Infinitedetox discusses the role of the sublime in the novel. Earlier, he examined Dracula through the lens of genre fiction: “There’s a certain set of rules that the book must deal with, and part of the fun for us, as readers, is to see which rules get followed and which get broken and which get bent all to hell in ways that we maybe didn’t expect.”

I do mean that in the Jungian sense. At first glance (and relying on collective cultural baggage and preconceptions), Count Dracula would ostensibly seem to fit the archetype of the Shadow. Lurking, hiding. A sinister foreigner. Gypsy. Thief and burglar of blood. Inchoate. There but not there. The stuff of nightmares. But, as we see in the first chapter, he doesn’t actually hide in the shadows, he has no need to. He uses deceit to achieve his goals from the very first time we meet him. He’s always a step ahead. He is cunning, funny, and foolish but not the fool. He is an animal master. A gypsy shaman.